


The White Castle

by Thepyramidsloth



Category: Cthulhu Mythos - H. P. Lovecraft, LOVECRAFT H. P. - Works
Genre: Anonymous Narrator, Eldritch Creatures - Freeform, First Person, Lovecraft Inspired, OC, Original Character - Freeform, Original work - Freeform, animal companion, eldritch landscapes, ethereal si’ont, h.p. lovecraft inspired, leole, narrator just loves exploring weird shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 20:18:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17690222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thepyramidsloth/pseuds/Thepyramidsloth
Summary: An unnamed man finds himself with the ability to travel across dimensions through sleep. The land of ethereal Si’ont begins to become his reality as his mundane waking hours fade into dreams.





	1. The White Castle

On the edge of the world clouded by opaque mists stands the White Castle.

With innumerable spires it rises above the foreboding shadows of the jagged cliffs which lead to the darkest places man does not dare to go.   
The green waters which rush past the clean and exotic exterior flow down into the abyss with such turbulence as the most horrible of swirling vortexes ever produced by nature.   
I was intrigued and most puzzled by the tempestuous waters. Though despite their roiling, not once did they utter even the slightest of sounds.

It was so with the whole of the White Castle. Neither footstep nor spoken word echoed from the landscape which had pledged itself to deafening silence.  
I had shouted in vain upon approaching the structure, hoping for any sign of another living being only to find that despite my best efforts to expel the air from my lungs no such words escaped me. Nothing but the horrible, oppressing silence.

I did not visit the castle often save in my most engrossing dreams. Once accustomed to the place I was not frightened or alarmed by the seemingly infinite isolation it held. Rather, there was a sort of calm beauty in the clarity which had now possessed my senses.   
No longer did I struggle to stay on the same train of thought for indefinite amounts of time, thus my pondering became so wonderous and engulfing as to bring me closer to things which man ought not to know.   
Still I pondered and reveled in this new found freedom which the place had brought me.

In the halls of the white castle I once observed beings of great yellow light passing through the great marble wall which rippled seemingly only in their presence.  
I myself have never been able to follow them across this barrier despite my numerous efforts. Perhaps it is best if I do not.

To best describe such indescribable creatures I can vaguely say that they were conical in shape with the larger end upstanding and approximately eleven feet tall. Upon close examination they appeared to move using cilia like hairs in comb rows along the sides of their bodies, the entirety of which seemed to be made of a flexible substance akin to molten glass.   
Their luminosity came from some indeterminate point within the glass like substance which I could not identify although the creatures were fairly transparent.

I dared not interact with them. While their intentions did not seem malevolent they conveyed to my subconscious an air of untouchable beauty. Perhaps even royalty. Either way it seems they had no interest or perhaps could not sense my presence.  
A great number of the royal lights, as I have been accustomed to calling them, gathered in the infathomable vastness of the great library of White Castle.  
Here lie marvelous and mysterious books such as A Guide to the Angles of Time, The Mystery of Ulthair, and The Followers of Ethereal Si’ont.

In this great font of knowledge many of the royal lights spent their time.   
With no visible sight organ they somehow peered over volumes upon volumes using two retractable limbs to turn the pages of the ancient manuscripts with surgical precision. 

Many a day I spent sprawled on the crimson luxurious couches and round windows with padded window sills of the library engrossed in my studies. 

As I write I understand the conflicting reasoning behind my words.   
How can I spend days in the castle when I visit it only in the farthest reaches of dreams?  
I can only say that the reality of time that exists in our world is   
unknown to the seasons of White Castle manor. For no setting of the sun occurs there, and the moon never rises to greet a blackened sky. But the old clocks hung from the walls tick restlessly forward with unwavering confidence that assures me time has passed.


	2. The opalescent desert

It was on a dreadful day that I succumbed to the urge that tugged my mind away from the wonders of the library and to the wild and savage places outside the castle walls.   
For my extensive studies had made me so inexplicably curious as to override any fears of the unknown land beyond limited view. 

I had first climbed the seemingly endless stairwell of the tallest spire to survey my surroundings.  
I did not see much save the swirling mist about the place. However my persistence payed off for through a minute gap in the fog I glimpsed a most frightening and fascinating sight.

There on the horizon stood a forest of stone. Jutting from the earth were countless stalagmites that branched upwards into an unknown purple canopy.

So great was the forest that it followed the curvature of the place into the horizon and I wondered what marvelous creatures must inhabit such a harsh and beautiful environment. I resolved to set out at once, my guide was to be the tome of Ethereal Si’ont as it mentioned much about what might be hidden deep in the wilds surrounding me. 

Whether the old book had been the scrawlings of a mind long since lost or a genuine account of the world beyond the White Castle was of no mind if even a small fraction was rooted in reality.  
I did not make any preparations for my journey through the unknown, for here one does not succumb to the necessity of sustaining the body's faculties. 

I brought neither food, nor water nor any form of makeshift bed. The only materials I required were the small pad and pen from which I will recall my writings for you now.

While describing the strange planet there began to arise a problem, there was no name to which I could refer when referencing it. Thus, after seeing it mentioned in my guidebook several times I have named it Si’ont the Ethereal.   
For several days I lapsed into a coma like sleep which aided on my journey.   
At the time the I began to see that the world beyond my dreams was the mundane illusion and this the spectacular reality of life. 

Knowledge that could not be recalled or recognized nor comprehended was the division between the waking and sleeping hours. For when I awoke I knew little and the confusion of trying to recall fantastic epiphanies from the superior plain of existence was jumbled into incomprehensible nonsense to which the outside world limited my understanding.

This inconsistency in though drove me mad so long as I was awake.  
Therefore I pooled the reminder of my savings into sleeping pills and rent money.  
By using no water or electricity I was free to constantly seek the marvel of of Si’ through sleep.

After all, what use had I for the mundane when before me lay beauty beyond measure.


	3. The tiny furry thing

For days I could do nothing save sit in the iridescent pearls of sea glass and marvel at the forest from across the horizon. The thought occurred to me that this once had been a tempestuous place of roiling waters and great crystalline cliffs which over time immemorial left nothing but a picturesque landscape of brilliant hues.

It was during a short perusal of my guide that I met the second type of creature which wandered this strange and unchanging land.

It was of the variety characteristically similar to a mole with shovel like paws which protruded from its long and slender body. The face was distinctly feline with markings not dissimilar to that of a leopard.  
The thing had somehow sensed my presence through the sand and its curiosity had lead it to surface underneath the spot on which I was sitting causing me awful fright.

I dared not move as the creature inspected me with its long whiskers which protruded from its cheeks, brow, and the skin covered place in which eyes usually appeared on such animals.  
Though the thing was only the size of a small dog I still felt an unnatural and unjustified fear of it which kept me still when the strange thing crawled onto my lap.

It was dreadfully cold for the relatively comfortable temperature of the air and I began to ponder if such a thing perhaps had been drawn to me like a snake is drawn to the heat of rock piles in the early morning.  
My panic subsided slightly as I took the time to further examine whatever lay basking in my body heat.

It was covered in a short layer of pinkish fur, the rosettes which marked it ranged anywhere from dark brown to light blues and greens. The camouflage had seemingly worked exceptionally well given that it had gotten so close without my notice.

My fascination was quickly erased by a worrying question. If this creature needed to hide itself from sight here in the desert, then what ghastly other creatures lurk nearby? To think I had been lounging in full view of wild beasts that lurked among the dunes sent shivers throughout my body.  
In my haste to scan my surroundings the small thing was accidentally dumped back onto the sand. To this it took much offense and began furiously gnawing at my trousers with nonexistent teeth.

Satisfied that no threatening beasts were stalking me I pulled my leg from the small furry things grasp.

Flipping through my guide of Si’ont I was astonished to find no note of the bothersome organism.   
I have since taken the initiative to name the species “pardusvarietates talpaidea.” Or simply, leoles.

Of their behavior I have little record save what I have observed by my leole.  
Yes I know it must seem daft to refer to it as belonging to myself but I’ve come to favor the small animal and the way it will follow me to any place accessible to its minuscule legs.

With unease I returned to my wandering, hoping to avoid contact with any organism more hostile than the leole and reach the stone forest with haste. To my delight I arrived with no incident.

The forest had seemed relatively tall from a distance but to my utter amazement the stone protrusions were quite minuscule and I needed only to reach up slightly to examine their glass leaves.   
The change in the landscape was quite incomprehensible owing to the sheer distance I had come. It was as if I had walked to the horizon only to find that all objects did not change in size no matter their proximity. 

When I thought about the phenomenon it occurred to me that I had been so focused on my adventure into the unknown that I had failed to look exactly how far I had come from the castle.

**Author's Note:**

> Back at it again with stealing h.p. Lovecraft’s style of writing. Something about it is just relaxing. I wanted to eventually write a book using this writing style and this is my first go at it. 
> 
> Any comments or constructive criticism are appreciated <3


End file.
